SIGN OUR TAXPAYERS' LETTER TO THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES OF TESCO, ASDA, SAINSBURY'S, MORRISONS & NEXT CALLING FOR A LIVING WAGE

To:

Dave Lewis (CEO Tesco)

Andy Clark (CEO Asda)

Mike Coupe (CEO Sainsbury’s)

David Potts (CEO Morrisons)

Simon Wolfson (CEO Next)

12th April 2015

Dear CEOs,

We are shocked by new research from Citizens UK that finds low pay costing us taxpayers £11 billion in working benefits and tax credits.

It’s a scandal that your companies, including some of the largest and most profitable in the country, count on the public to prop up lousy pay to your workers and that, in some astonishing cases, you receive more in public subsidy than you contribute in corporation tax to the public purse.

Over 5 million people struggle to get by on less than a Living Wage and over 500,000 are directly employed by you. They deserve the chance to stand on their own two feet and taxpayers shouldn’t be left footing the bill for a profitable company’s poor pay.

Your five companies alone cost us £1 billion in public subsidy each year. That’s enough for 150 new schools or 4 million ambulance call outs and, staggeringly, is as much as your entire collective contribution in corporation tax.

Paying the Living Wage wouldn’t see your public subsidy eliminated, but it would be a major and affordable step towards balanced, responsible business.

We call on you to commit to paying the Living Wage as a way to properly reward your workers and re-balance your responsibilities to the public in a way that is fair and reasonable.